Friday, June 1, 2018 — DT 28649

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28649
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28649]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Mr K
BD Rating
Difficulty - ★★	Enjoyment - ★★★
Falcon's Experience ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - solved but without fully parsing the clue █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by solutions from Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - yet to be solved

Introduction

This review was written in bits and pieces around blogging the puzzle that appeared yesterday in The Daily Telegraph — one that should appear in the National Post toward the end of October. As a result, the two puzzles are a bit jumbled in my mind. Mr K thought this puzzle was on the easier end of the spectrum, and I am certainly prepared to accept his judgement in that regard.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

Notes on Today's Puzzle

This commentary is intended to serve as a supplement to the review of this puzzle found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

Click here for an explanation of conventions and symbols used in explaining the parsing of clues.

The purpose of this article is to explain the conventions and symbols that I use on this blog in explaining the parsing of clues.

Legend: The following symbols are used in reviews: "*" anagram "~" sounds like "<" indicates that the preceding letters are reversed "( )" encloses contained letters "_" replaces letters that have been deleted "†" indicates that the word is present in the clue

The review of a clue takes the following general structure:

#a/d   Clue containing parsing markup (num^*)

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^* num = numeration

Explanations pertaining to the wordplay (or first definition in a double definition)

(Horizontal separator)

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Explanations pertaining to the definition (or second definition in a double definition) and solution.

Explanatory Box

An explanatory box provides additional information about the clue. In most cases this information will not necessarily help in solving the clue but provides information about the clue. In the case of the weekday syndicated Daily Telegraph puzzles, such information is often intended to help the North American solver appreciate how the clue may be perceived by a British solver. These boxes may also provide information on people, places, films, television programmes, works of art and literature, etc. mentioned in the clue. Although the titles of these boxes will usually be drawn from a standard list, I do occasionally throw in a title specifically suggested by the subject at hand. The standard titles include: Scratching the Surface - an explanation of the surface reading of the clue Delving Deeper - in-depth information pertaining to a subject mentioned in an explanation Behind the Picture - for weekday puzzles, information about an illustration found on Big Dave's Crossword Blog What did he/she/they say? - for weekday puzzles, an explanation of a remark made in a review or comment on Big Dave's Crossword Blog What are they talking about? - for weekday puzzles, an explanation of a discussion on Big Dave's Crossword Blog One box that may provide information that could prove helpful in solving the clue is the following: Here and There - for weekday puzzles, discusses words whose British meaning differs from their North American meaning

Note that there are many types of cryptic crossword clue and it is not my intention to exhaustively go through all of them here. I will only deal with clue types to the extent necessary to explain the conventions and symbols used on the blog. Furthermore, be aware that, in the world of cryptic crosswords, there seems to be an exception to every rule.

With one exception that I can think of, cryptic crossword clues provide two routes to the solution. These are commonly referred to as the definition and wordplay. While these terms serve well for most clues, there are some cases where the more formal terms of primary indication and subsidiary indication may be more appropriate.

Most cryptic crossword clues consist of a definition (primary indication) and wordplay (subsidiary indication). The definition may be a "precise definition" (a definition that is either taken straight from a dictionary or at least phrased in a non-misleading fashion) or it may be a "cryptic definition" (a definition misleadingly phrased so as to misdirect the solver either with respect to the meaning of the definition as a whole or to an incorrect sense of a word used in the definition).

The only type of clue that I can think of where there are not two ways of finding the solution are those in which the entire clue is a cryptic definition.

I identify precise definitions by marking them with a solid underline in the clue and cryptic definitions by marking them with a dotted underline.

In clues in which both definition and wordplay are present, the two parts of the clue combine to provide an overall meaningful statement (the surface reading) which usually bears no relationship to the underlying cryptic reading of the clue. In some cases, an extra word or phrase will be inserted into the clue to create a meaningful link between the definition and wordplay. I define clues which contain such a link word or link phrase as having an explicit link and clues which contain no link word or link phrase as having an implicit link.

I mark the existence of an explicit link by enclosing the link word or link phrase between forward slashes (/link/) and mark the existence of an implicit link with double forward slashes (//) positioned between the definition and wordplay.

Examples

A few examples may help to illustrate these points more clearly.

The first example is a clue used by Jay in DT 28573:

• 4d   Fellow left work // a failure (4)

Here the definition is "a failure" which is marked with a solid underline to show that it is a precise definition. The wordplay parses as F (fellow; abbrev.) + L (left; abbrev.) + OP (work; abbrev. used in music) which gives us the solution F|L|OP. The double forward slashes (//) between the definition and wordplay indicate the existence of an "implicit link" between the two parts of the clue (that is, no extra words are inserted into the clue to form the link).

The second example is a clue used by Giovanni in DT 28575:

• 29a   Female going to match // travels with mother in advance (10)

Here the definition "female going to match" is cryptic (the setter is attempting to misdirect our thoughts to a sports event rather than a marriage ceremony) and thus is marked with a a dotted underline. The wordplay is {RIDES (travels) + (with) MA (mother)} contained in (in) BID (advance) giving us the solution B(RIDES|MA)ID. As in the first example, the double forward slashes indicate the presence of an implicit link.

The third example is a clue used by Rufus is DT 28583:

• 18d   Knight caught by misplaced big blow /is/ staggering (8)

Here the definition is "staggering" which is marked with a solid underline to show that it is a precise definition. The wordplay parses as N ([chess symbol for] knight) contained in (caught in) an anagram (misplaced) of BIG BLOW producing the solution WOBBLI(N)G. Finally, forward slashes mark the link word (/is/).

I also use distinctive underlining to mark &lit.^[7] and semi-&lit. clues. Note that the reviewers on Big Dave's Crossword Blog generally prefer to refer to these clue types by the less pretentious names of all-in-one or semi-all-in-one clues respectively.

In an &lit. clue^[7] (or all-in-one clue) the entire clue provides not only the definition (when read one way), but under a different interpretation also serves as the wordplay.

In future, I will mark such clues with a combined solid and dashed underline. Although this is a departure from past practice, it would seem to make more sense than using a dotted underline as I have in the past). Henceforth, the dotted underline will be reserved for cryptic definitions.

In a semi-&lit. clue (or semi-all-in-one clue), either:

• the entire clue acts as the definition while a portion of the clue provides the wordplay; or
• the entire clue acts as the wordplay while a portion of the clue provides the definition.

For these clues, I will mark the definition with a solid underline and the wordplay with a  dashed underline. This means that a portion of the clue may have a solid underline, a portion of the clue may have a dashed underline and a portion of the clue may have a combined solid and dashed underline.

One final clue type is what I characterize as a cryptic definition comprised of a precise definition combined with cryptic elaboration. For example, in DT 28560 (setter unknown) the following clue appears:

•  26d   Heroic exploit, whichever way you look at it (4)

As the entire clue is a cryptic definition, it is marked with a dotted underline. The 'precise definition' is "heroic exploit" and is indicated by a solid underline.

Given the numeration, the precise definition could give rise to at least two solutions, DEED or FEAT. However, the 'cryptic elaboration' ("whichever way you look at it") indicates that the solution is a palindrome thereby immediately eliminating one of the two obvious choices.

Note that the part of the clue that I have called 'cryptic elaboration' does not provide a second independent route to the solution (as the wordplay would do in most other types of clue). Rather it merely provides a piece of additional information (elaboration) related to the 'precise definition'.

Again, this approach is a departure from past practice, but like the other changes mentioned previously is intended to remove inconsistencies in the way that I have been applying parsing markup to clues. The markup rules that I have been using until now evolved bit-by-bit over a long period of time resulting in some degree of internal inconsistency.

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Across

1a   Artist in state at flipping // opera (2,8)

"artist" = RA (show explanation )

A Royal Academician (abbreviation RA^[10]) is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts^[5] (also Royal Academy; abbreviation also RA^[10]), an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain. 

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La traviata^[7] (The Fallen Woman) is an opera by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La Dame aux Camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The opera was originally titled Violetta, after the main character. It was first performed in 1853 at the La Fenice opera house in Venice.

6a   Fish, // black as soot initially (4)

"black" = B (show explanation )

B^[5] is an abbreviation for black used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ 2B pencils.

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9a   Having head of security inside gallery /makes/ sense (5)

"gallery" = TATE (show explanation )

The Tate Gallery^[5] (commonly known simply as the Tate) is a national museum of art in London, England founded in 1897 by the sugar manufacturer Sir Henry Tate (1819–1899) to house his collection of modern British paintings, as a nucleus for a permanent national collection of modern art. It was renamed Tate Britain in 2000, when the new Tate Modern gallery opened. [I would surmise that by that time the original collection could no longer be considered "modern".]

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10a   One under no compulsion // to release spy (4,5)

12a   Blandishments, // fine lines describing former queen (7)

"fine" = F (show explanation )

F^[5] is an abbreviation for fine, as used in describing grades of pencil lead.

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Note: Oxford Dictionaries surprisingly characterizes this usage as British

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"line" = L (show explanation )

In textual references, the abbreviation for line is l.^[5] ⇒ l. 648.

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Anne^[7] (1665–1714) became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, two of her realms, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, united as a single sovereign state, the United Kingdom of Great Britain. She continued to reign as Queen of Great Britain and Ireland until her death.

The use of the word "describing" as a containment indicator is a common cryptic crossword device which relies on describe^[1,2,12] being used in the sense of to trace the outline of or delineate ⇒ skaters describing circles on the ice.

Thus, in today's clue, we have LL (lines) containing (describing; outlining or forming a container around) ANNE (former Queen).

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Flannel^[10] (noun) is an informal British term for;

• indirect or evasive talk
• deceiving flattery

13a   Danse macabre /in/ saloon (5)

Saloon^[5] (also known as saloon car^[10]) is a British term for a car (known in Canada, the US, and New Zealand as a sedan^[10]) having a closed body and a closed boot [trunk] separated from the part in which the driver and passengers sit ⇒ a four-door saloon.

Surprisingly, this Americanism did not elicit the usual howls of protest from the commentariat on Big Dave's Crossword Blog.

Scratching the Surface
Danse macabre[5] is another term for dance of death[5], a medieval allegorical representation in which a personified Death leads all types of people to the grave, intended to emphasize the equality of all before death.

15a   Teacher in a flap, recalled // coffee shop worker (7)

It is common practice for British school students to address (or refer to) their male teachers as "Sir", as in To Sir, with Love^[7], a 1967 British drama film starring Sidney Poitier that deals with social and racial issues in an inner-city school.

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A barista^[10] is a person who prepares and serves coffee in a coffee bar.

17a   Send male out /to get/ carriage (7)

19a   List // that is full of incorrect times (7)

21a   Writer with firearm bagging one // bird (7)

Here and There
The setter has almost certainly used "writer" in the sense of an implement used for writing. While North American dictionaries also define pen[3,11] as a writer or an author ⇒ a hired pen, British dictionaries do not list this meaning although they do show pen[2,4] (or the pen[5,10]) as symbolically denoting writing as an occupation.

22a   Log // that may be turned into treen (5)

Scratching the Surface
Treen[5] (noun) denotes small domestic wooden objects, especially antiques.

24a   Person going to Margate perhaps // runs into truck (7)

"runs" = R (show explanation )

On cricket scorecards [not to mention baseball scoreboards], the abbreviation R^[5] denotes run(s).

In cricket, a run^[5] is a unit of scoring achieved by hitting the ball so that both batsmen are able to run between the wickets, or awarded in some other circumstances.

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Tipper^[5] is a British name^* for a dump truck^[5].

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^* Other British terms for such a vehicle are dumper^[5], dumper truck^[5], tip truck^[10], tipper truck^[10], and tipper lorry^[10].

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Margate^[7] is a seaside town in East Kent, England. For at least 250 years, Margate has been a leading seaside resort in the UK, drawing Londoners to its beaches, Margate Sands.

Tripper^[5] is an informal British term for a person who goes on a pleasure trip or excursion.

27a   High-flier's stand-in // car I parked in allotment (9)

Allotment^[5] is a British term for a plot of land rented by an individual for growing vegetables or flowers. This term is also used in Canada — at least in Ottawa — although one would be more apt to hear it referred to here by the full version of the name, allotment garden^[7].

28a   A British national // racecourse (5)

Ascot Racecourse^[7] is a British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing — both flat racing (show more ) and National Hunt Racing (show more ). It is one of the leading racecourses in the United Kingdom, hosting 13 of Britain's 36 annual Group 1 horse races. The course enjoys close associations with the British Royal Family, being approximately six miles from Windsor Castle.

A flat race^[5] is a horse race over a course with no jumps, as opposed to a steeplechase or hurdles.

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National Hunt racing^[7] is the official name given to that form of the sport of horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Ireland in which the horses are required to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is divided into two major distinct branches: hurdles and steeplechases. Alongside these there are "bumpers", which are National Hunt flat races. In a hurdles race, the horses jump over obstacles called hurdles; in a steeplechase the horses jump over a variety of obstacles that can include plain fences, water jump or an open ditch.

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29a   Take home // unopened tea service (4)

"service" = RN (show explanation )

The Royal Navy^[5] (abbreviation RN) is the British navy. It was the most powerful navy in the world from the 17th century until the Second World War.

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30a   Stuffing not put back /in/ bear (10)

Paddington Bear^[7], a polite immigrant bear from Deepest, Darkest Peru, with his old hat, battered suitcase, duffle coat and love of marmalade sandwiches, has become a classic character from English children's literature. (show more )

In the first story, Paddington is found at Paddington railway station in London by the Brown family, sitting on his suitcase (bearing the label "WANTED ON VOYAGE") with a note attached to his coat which reads, "Please look after this bear. Thank you." Author Michael Bond has said that his memories of newsreels showing trainloads of child evacuees leaving London during the war, with labels around their necks and their possessions in small suitcases, prompted him to do the same for Paddington.

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Down

1d   Instrument female dropped /for/ another one (4)

2d   After time, request church // working party (4,5)

"church" = CE (show explanation )

The Church of England^[10] (abbreviation CE^[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.

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3d   Scene of conflict /in/ region housing indefinite number (5)

"indefinite number" = N (show explanation )

The letter n^[10] is used (especially in mathematics) as a symbol to represent an indefinite number (of) ⇒ there are n objects in a box.

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4d   From Spain, fantastic // royal daughter (7)

Historically, the term infanta^[5] denoted a daughter of the ruling monarch of Spain or Portugal, especially the eldest daughter who was not heir to the throne.

5d   A kind of racing // article having little depth? (3,4)

The Flat^[5] is a British term for flat racing^[5], a type of horse racing conducted over a course with no jumps, as opposed to a steeplechase or hurdles.

7d   At Hogwarts, Dumbledore was one // up (5)

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, shortened to Hogwarts^[7], is a fictional British school of magic for students aged eleven to eighteen, and is the primary setting for the first six books in British novelist J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore^[7] is a fictional character in British novelist J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. For most of the series, he is the headmaster of the wizarding school Hogwarts.

In Britain, head^[5] is short for headmaster^[5] (a man who is the head teacher in a school), headmistress^[5] (a woman who is the head teacher in a school), or head teacher^[5] (the teacher in charge of a school).

8d   Schedule this month, one // no longer changeable (3,2,5)

Instant^[5] (abbreviation inst.^[5]) is a dated expression once used in business letters. It is a postpositive adjective meaning of the current month ⇒ (i) your letter of the 6th instant; (ii) we are pleased to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 14 inst.

11d   Do without // it, as ban involved (7)

14d   Destroy // old book, well-read (10)

16d   It's to be raised, bishop winning // support for a jockey (7)

"bishop" = RR (show explanation )

Right Reverend^[5] (abbreviation RR^[2]) is a title given to a bishop, especially in the Anglican Church ⇒ the Right Reverend David Jenkins, Bishop of Durham.

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18d   Maybe four, score /for/ stroke made by batsman? (6,3)

In cricket, a square cut^[5] is a cut (show more ) hit square (show more ) on the offside (show more ).

In cricket, cut^[5] means

• to hit (the ball) to the off side with the bat held almost horizontally ⇒ He opens the over by stepping to the leg side and swinging his bat through a horizontal arc, cutting the ball to point for four more
• to play such a stroke against (the bowler) ⇒ Wayne Phillips cut a ball from spinner Phil Edmonds that hit Allan Lamb's boot as he turned to take evasive action

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In soccer and cricket, square^[5] denotes in a direction transversely across the field or pitch.

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In cricket, the off^[5]  (also called off side) is the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) towards which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball.  The other half of the field is known as either the leg^[5] (also called leg side) or on^[5] (also called on side) ⇒ he played a lucky stroke to leg.

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20d   Young Miss Havisham // set off with Miss Fitzgerald (7)

Ella Fitzgerald^[5] (1917–1996) was an American jazz singer, known for her distinctive style of scat singing.

Estella Havisham^[7] (best known in literature simply as Estella) is a significant character in English writer Charles Dickens' novel, Great Expectations (show more ).

Like the protagonist, Pip, Estella is introduced as an orphan, but where Pip was raised by his sister and her husband to become a blacksmith, Estella was adopted and raised by the wealthy and eccentric Miss Havisham to become a lady.

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21d   Trained /and/ incisive (7)

23d   Coach // tour rearranged to take in Turkey's capital (5)

25d   Flat/'s/ electric current shown in diagram (5)

"electric current" = I (show explanation )

In physics, I^[5] is a symbol used to represent electric current in mathematical formulae.

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Scratching the Surface
Flat[5] is the British term for what would be called an apartment[5] in North America.

26d   Shock /caused by/ dangerous feat? No end (4)

Key to Reference Sources: 

^[1]   - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
^[2]   - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
^[3]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
^[4]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[5]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Dictionary of English)
^[6]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
^[7]   - Wikipedia
^[8]   - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
^[9]   - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
^[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)
^[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
^[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)
^[14] - CollinsDictionary.com (COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon